Cate Blanchett's hero son

Oct 29, 2007, 7:30 GMT

10/23/2007 - Cate Blanchett - The Times BFI London Film Festival - \'Elizabeth: The Golden Age\'- Movie Premiere - Arrivals - Odeon, Leicester Square - London, England © Solarpix / PR Photos

Cate Blanchett's young son dressed up as a knight and protected her on the set of her latest movie.

The 'Elizabeth: The Golden Age' star - who plays the Virgin Queen in the historical film about the 16th century Spanish invasion of England - says her five-year-old son was so obsessed with knights the assistant director kindly let him play the part off screen.

Cate revealed to Bang Showbiz: "It was fantastic to have the kids on set. Dash, my eldest, who was then not quite five, was into knights at the time and his godmother had given him a plastic knight outfit.

"Tommy Gormley kindly said he could stand and protect me. So in the scene where Clive Owen is talking about the immensities and I'm sitting on the throne, I'm actually looking through an archway at my son standing in a knight's costume protecting me.

"He stood for like five minutes and each take was different for him. He was a natural, unfortunately."

Cate, 38, also revealed one of the most challenging scenes of the film was when her character was leading her troops into battle against the Spanish.

When asked about sitting astride her white horse, she replied: "It wasn't particularly comfortable and the director, Shekhar Kapur, decided he wanted a restless horse, so it was a challenge. Also the winds were against me and you are addressing the troops all day.

"But it was an absolute glorious position in the world. The vista from sitting on that white horse was stunning."

(C) BANG Media International